Education Outline

                            The GED, which stands for the tests for General Educational Development is equivalent to a high school diploma. This certificate is necessary for those that want to continue their education at the university level. The certificate earned is widely recognized within the United States, Canada and many Asian countries and is often a requirement for entrance into universities. Nearly all students arrive at MHEP with little education recognized by the Thailand or Myanmar governments. The GED high school certificate acts to quantify the students’ strong academic calibre and empower them to continue their studies at the university level.

The GED comprises four subjects: Academic Writing and Reading, Social Studies, Science and Mathematics.

  • Academic writing gives students extensive practice to develop their English grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling skills. Students complete a variety of types of writing, and learn to value and organize their own ideas. They learn to write clearly and use appropriate vocabulary. For the last half of the year, students work on discussing, planning, and writing academic essays, primarily on social and environmental issues.
  • Reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction familiarizes students with ways to understand and talk about challenging reading texts. Students build confidence in reading new texts and making inferences about what they read. In addition to learning vocabulary from texts, students work on vocabulary used in academic discussion of reading, and learn to answer higher level questions about texts.
  • Social Studies includes looking at history in terms of critical points in time and groups of historical periods, geography, economics and political science. Students have to be able to read, analyse, interpret and evaluate various documents and events and relate it to world around them.
  • Science focuses on relating scientific principles to everyday experiences and applying the scientific method to test and interpret original theories. The major areas are Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Space Science and Earth science.
  • Mathematics consists of word problems, graph interpretation and solving for missing variables. Half the exam requires a calculator and the other half a calculator is prohibited. The areas included are Numbers and Operations, Measurement and Data Analysis, Algebra, and Geometry.

                         These four tests are designed to measure the knowledge and skills that a student should have acquired after four years in high school. A variety of skills are needed to pass the test. However, the majority of the test requires skills in information processing, critical thinking, analytical skills and problem solving.

                       The development of these skills has become a major focus for the teachers at MHEP and key to passing the GED. MHEP chose the GED as the best method to provide students the chance to enter foreign universities, to improve their education, and to further their skills. This opportunity will allow students to attain the skills needed when they work to empower and liberate their communities on Burma and on the border.